Yantsu
安三 · Yantsu
Literally: „safe in three ways“
Also known as: Yansu, Ansan, Hansan
A short Kyokushin kata whose characters 安三 mean "safe in three ways". Outside Kyokushin, only Motobu-ha Shito-ryu practices it, in a longer form, as Ansan.
Quick Facts
About the kata
Jaap Kooman calls Yantsu a short but difficult kata: an exercise in precision and balance whose correct execution, in his view, reveals much about the practitioner's technique and skill. His breakdown gives it 21 numbered steps and two kiai, at steps 13 and 18. It begins in heiko dachi with a double haito strike to the head and a double straight punch seiken morote tsuki, followed by uraken back-fist strikes and the four-finger spear-hand yonhon nukite. Next come alternating zenkutsu dachi, neko ashi dachi and musubi dachi. Twice it repeats shotei downward, koken upward and shuto sakotsu uchi komi to the collarbone; mae geri combined with haito uchi uke also comes twice. In a London dojo's syllabus (kyokushinkai.org.uk), Yantsu is part of the 4th kyu exam with Tsuki no Kata and Pinan Sono Ni Ura. On the official WUKF kata list of 7 April 2024, it is classed among the sentei katas for Kyokushin.
The kata in different styles
Meaning of the name
The name is written with the characters 安三. According to Jaap Kooman it comes from the older form Yansu: 安 means safe, 三 three, together "safe in three ways". Kooman notes that the three paths also carry great significance in Buddhist teaching. In Kyokushin, the name is usually translated as "keeping purity" – holding to pure principles and ideals and not compromising them for convenience. The sites emarteam.com and IKO Nederland attribute the name to a Chinese military attaché who was active on Okinawa in the nineteenth century.
Creator and history
Both the English Wikipedia and Jaap Kooman list it as an old kata of unknown origin, some assigning it to Naha-te, others to Tomari-te; Wikipedia counts it among Kyokushin's southern katas. When and from whom Kyokushin took it up, we have not been able to establish. Wikipedia offers only the assumption it came from Motobu-ha Shito-ryu. Kooman is more specific: Masutatsu Oyama is said to have learned it as Ansan from Shogo Kuniba – though even he presents this as speculation.
Differences between styles
Outside Kyokushin, per the English Wikipedia, it is today practiced only by Motobu-ha Shito-ryu, part of the Nihon Karate-do Kuniba-kai association, where it has a somewhat longer form called Hansan or Ansan; Kooman also writes of this longer Shito-ryu version. Per him, the Kyokushin version moves in three directions – once forward, twice sideways. We could not find a breakdown of the Shito-ryu form.
Competition status
- WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Kyokushin — Sentei (selected) · valid from 4/26/2024 ↗
In grading syllabi
- IKO grading (traditional honbu): 6th Kyu – Yellow belt